Rough Draft
by Shadow Goat Alice
Summary: THTJB - It is young Jennifer Hailey's first day in her new home. She may find herself needing to make some personal adjustments to get along with her new house mate.
1. Messy Move

AN: This takes place early summer after Tenement.

Chapter 1 - Messy Move

Jenn climbed out of her dad's Dodge Dakota feeling stiff. She looked at her surroundings and smiled. It was early summer, and her new life was starting. It was hard not to feel positive about the change. And hopefully the bachelors wouldn't be filled with a bunch of bumbling idiots like her junior college had been.

Movement caught her eye and she spotted Rhea waving to her from the entrance to the complex.

"Hey kid! Hi auntie Kaitlyn, uncle Rob!" Rhea said, grinning, as she approached the family.

"God, don't call me that, Rhea." Jenn groaned.

"Rhea, how have you been?" Her dad asked, laughing as he patted Jenn fondly on the head.

Jenn reached up to swat his hand away, then headed to the bed of the truck while her parents and Rhea caught up.

The past few months had been a blur. She came down over spring break with her parents to explain the situation to Rhea's landlord and sign the appropriate forms. He had been surprisingly understanding about the whole situation. Even during her time at the junior college some of the teachers wouldn't let her attend without a parent present, but Jack - her new landlord - had simply given them a surprised look, said "She's barely seventeen and she's already transferring as a junior? Damn. WAY smarter than me." And gave her parents the paperwork to fill out.

When she got home, Jenn spent the following months preparing for finals, ordering her graduation regalia, and packing for her new start. She was eager to start her new life, and grateful to her favorite cousin for agreeing to room with her.

"Alright Jenny, should we start with the light stuff?" Rhea said, coming around to the back of the van.

Jen made a face. Rhea was the only one who called her Jenny. It was a sweet memento of the past, but she really didn't want people to start calling her that here.

"Ugh, don't call me that either."

"What do you want me to call you then?" Rhea rolled her eyes.

Jenn sighed. "These are the boxes with my clothes. Should be the lightest.."

"Great! Let's get moving!" Rhea grabbed a box and led the way into Jenn's new home.

—

When they walked in Jenn almost dropped her box on the floor in surprise. "Rhea, this place is a pigsty!" She exclaimed.

"What do you mean? Everything is right where I need it!" Rhea replied, looking over her shoulder as she headed into Jenn's new room.

"Rhea, there's crap everywhere!" She exclaimed, stepping over rags and paint supplies as she followed her cousin.

"Well, I'm an artist, Jenn. I cleaned out my art room so you could be my roomie. You'll have to live with the art corner."

"Art corner? More like art building! It's a disaster out there!"

"Alright, tell you what, after we get you moved in I'll rearrange some things out there to your psychopathic specifications. Deal?"

"You realize if you don't do it, I'll just rearrange it myself, right?"

"Wouldn't have made the offer otherwise, kid."

"Don't call me kid!" Jenn groaned as Rhea grinned at her tauntingly.

"This is gonna be so much fun!" Rhea squealed as she headed back out for more boxes.

Jenn hadn't brought much stuff with her so they made quick work of moving her boxes into her new room. Her parents had ordered her a bedroom set in advance, which showed up right as they were getting the final boxes from the truck. After the delivery men left, Rhea, Jenn, and her parents went out for a late lunch. Then her parents said their goodbyes and headed back to Detroit.

—

After her parents left, Jenn stood in her room and took in her new living space. She had her bed set up under the window, a night stand on either side, dresser by the closet and a small desk by the door. She smiled as she picked up the large framed poster of the Milky Way and hung it on the wall above her desk. Life was good. And then there was a knock on the apartment door.

Rhea had headed down to do a load of laundry after Jenn made her pick up all the rags by threatening to reorganize herself, so Jenn was alone in the apartment for the moment. She headed to the door and opened it, finding a young man in a police uniform standing before her.

"Oh hey, you must be the pipsqueak Rhea mentioned moving in with her."

"Excuse me?" Jenn asked irritably.

"Listen, name's John. I live a few doors down. Rhea said I could get some eggs off her? I made a bet with my partner I could bake better cookies than him and-"

"And what, you couldn't be bothered to go to the store?"

"I'm sorry, I think we started off on the wrong foot."

Jenn shut the door in his face and headed back to her room. She didn't have time for hopeless dumbasses who couldn't even go to the store on their own.

By the time Rhea returned from the laundry room, Jenn has managed to put all of her belongings away neatly. Her room was spotless, her bed was made, and the boxes had all been broken down and folded, ready to be taken to the dumpster.

"Damn you work fast. Hey, I forgot to tell you, our neighbor John is supposed to come by for eggs today."

"You mean the dumbass cop?"

"Oh no. Jenn, what did you do?"

"Told him to run his own damn errands."

"God, you're never going to make friends with that attitude!" Rhea exclaimed, grabbing the eggs and leaving the apartment again.

"Whatever," Jenn muttered to the empty apartment. "I don't need any damn friends." Then she proceeded to reorganize the living room into a more professional and generally organized space.

She examined the room in all its glory. There were paintbrushes laid out on a napkin next to a cup of dirty paint water, on a table next to the easel. Rhea has papers and notes scattered all over the table, along with some books about painting techniques. The floor was no longer covered in dirty rags and tissues, but there was a bucket with jars of paint haphazardly thrown in, and dirty dishes left on every surface. She rolled up her sleeves and got to work.

Jenn made quick work of it, and had the entire living room cleaned before Rhea returned twenty minutes later. She was working on the kitchen when she heard the door slam.

"Took you long enough! God how long does it take to drop off some eggs."

"Well I had to apologize for your attitude Jenn-oh my god what have you done?" Rhea exclaimed, sounding frazzled.

"What do you mean?" Jenn asked, poking her head out of the kitchen.

"My stuff! You've completely rearranged everything!"

"I cleaned,Rhea. That hardly counts as rearranging. What's your problem, I thought you'd appreciate it." Jenn replied, rolling her eyes.

"Appreciate… Jenn! I had that stuff out for a reason! I knew just where everything was! Now I have to search for it!"

"God! You act like the world is ending." Jenn smirked.

"This isn't funny, Jenn! I have a project due on Monday!"

"It's summer. What project do you have due during the summer?"

"My professor asked me for weekly updates. God Jenn! Do you even know what I went through to get this place set up for you?! I cleaned, and I painted, and let's not even talk about that damned paint store employee I had to deal with!"

Jenn stared at her older cousin, feeling a twinge if homesickness set in. She needed to get out of here. "God. Whatever, I need to do some laundry." She huffed, grabbing a bag of clothes and storming out of the apartment.

—

As Jenn made her way down to the laundry room she began angrily wiping away the few tears that managed to sneak out. Rhea was the closest thing Jenn ever had to a friend. Her classmates had always called her weird and rude. The one person she thought was her friend in high school had tried to humiliate her in front of her class, and when confronted simply replied with "You drive everyone away, Jenn. No one will ever like you."

Except her cousin Rhea. Rhea always had time for her, always entertained her crazy ideas and trusted her theories. And now she was going to drive Rhea away too. Why are you like this, Jenn? She thought bitterly to herself as she reached the laundry room and began angrily shoving her bag of clothes into the washer. She didn't actually need to wash her clothes, just needed an escape.

"Oh hey! New kid on the block." Jenn heard a familiar voice from behind her and froze. She quickly reached up to wipe a few stray tears from her face. What she didn't need is the idiot neighbor seeing her crying.

"Look," he said uncomfortably from behind her. "I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. Can we try again? My name is John. John Shepphard."

Jenn sighed, pushed herself away from the washer and turned to meet his eyes. They were kind, hazel, and hopeful. Like a puppy who just wanted everyone to love him.

"Jennifer Hailey." She replied as she reluctantly grasped his outstretched hand.

The corners of his eyes creased as he smiled down at her. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Jennifer. Your cousin has told me a lot about you."

"Sure she has." Jenn said flatly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Oh yeah, Rhea has been super excited about you moving in!" The cop replied eagerly, finally setting his laundry basket down at a washer next to hers.

Jenn turned away, feeling a wave of discomfort, and refocused on methodically placing her clothes into the washer. "Excited, huh?" She replied, silently kicking herself for her attitude.

"Yeah! She's spent the last few weeks reorganizing the whole apartment so your room would be ready. Even painted it! You should have seen it before, that room was a disaster! Well, then she got her schedule off by a week… she realized last week you were coming this week and she thought she'd had another week… so that really threw her off her game… hey, are you okay?"

Jenn has started crying again. She couldn't help it, and that made her cry harder because she'd always felt crying in front of people was a sign of weakness. Now here she was crying in front of some complete stranger.

"I'm sorry, did I say something wrong again?" John looked genuinely concerned. "I kind of have this problem sometimes.. my mom always called it foot in mouth syndrome."

Jenn turned around and leaned against the washer, sliding down until she sat on the floor with her knees by her face. She then began furiously trying to wipe the tears away. John mimicked her and they sat side by side for a moment until Jenn was able to pull herself together a bit.

"Do you want to talk about it?" John asked after some time, gesturing broadly in front of him.

Jenn looked at him and forced a small smile. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Well for one, Rhea told me you could kill me with your brain." He teased. "Although I believe her exact words were 'my cousin is a kid genius, so don't mess with her.' Followed up with a threatening stare."

Jenn couldn't help herself, she giggled. She giggled. Okay, so maybe this idiot wasn't so bad after all.

"So are we gonna talk about it, or are we just gonna sit here and stare at our laundry baskets all day? Because I'm good with either. Any excuse to ship laundry day.."

"Rhea and I got into a fight." Jenn sighed. "We've never fought before. In fact, I think she's the only person I've never fought with. She's the only person who doesn't hate me."

"Hey now, I'm sure no one hates you." John said, nudging her knee with his elbow.

She stared at him for a second, then smiled slightly and shook her head. "I'm not sure if you noticed earlier, but I don't exactly do well with people. Rhea's always understood that, but I don't think she was ready for my… quirks."

"Such as?" He inquired, raising his eyebrows.

"I just-I like a clean house. I need order and…"

He laughed then. She looked at him in surprise to see him trying to control his laughter. Finally through his tears, he looked at her and managed to say "I'm sorry kid, but Rhea is the definition of chaos."

She began laughing too then, pleased Rhea had friends who understood her so well, and also enjoying the infectious laughter of John Shepphard.

"Look Jenn-is it alright if I call you Jenn?" He watched her nod before continuing. "If I were you, I would start small… work your way up to the big stuff. And maybe apologize?"

She opened her mouth to protest but stopped when he raised his hands defensively.

"Now I'm not saying you did anything wrong!" He began, "I just mean, sometimes being the bigger person is the best way to move past something. Just apologize for moving things without her to approve it, and ask if maybe you can work something out together."

"Thanks John. That's actually a big help."

"Hey, it's what I do." He said, grinning mischievously.

—

Jenn made her way back into the apartment with her laundry and stopped in her tracks. The apartment was spotless. Rhea must have cleaned the entire time she was gone.

"Just don't look in my room." Rhea said, coming out of the kitchen with a towel draped over her shoulder.

"You cleaned!" Jenn replied in shock.

"Very observant." Rhea shot back sarcastically. "Look, I'm sorry. I know how you are with messes. I'll try to be better in the future, just maybe ask before you mess with my painting supplies next time?"

Jenn grinned, dropped her laundry bag, and ran to hug her favorite cousin. "I'm sorry too. And I promise I'll ask in the future. But about this setup…" she pulled back to look Rhea in the eyes. "Are you sure about that wall of record sleeves?"

"Hey! don't test your luck, kid."

"Ugh don't call me kid!"

"Then you'll have to suffer with Jenny." Rhea winked and returned to the kitchen.

"Oh by the way," jenn said, picking up her abandoned laundry. "You're right. John isn't that bad."

Rhea turned to stare at Jenn in shock as she slipped into her room and slammed the door, smiling.

"Yeah," she sighed to her empty room. "This was definitely the right choice."


	2. Rude Awakenings

Chapter 2 - Rude Awakenings

Jenn awoke to the sound of an alarm clock going in some distant part of her house. Tired, she opened her eyes to a foreign room. It took her a moment to figure out where she was.

"Moved. You moved yesterday Jenn. Get your shit together." She mumbled to herself. After a moment she yelled "God Rhea! Turn off that damn alarm!"

When there was no reply, and the alarm continued to blare, she pulled herself out of bed and made her way to her cousin's bedroom door. She began knocking.

"Rhea? Rea?" No response. "Reabie?"

Surprised Rhea's least favorite nickname from her youth didn't work she began pounding and screaming. "COME ON YOU LAZY PIECE OF SHIT! YOU'RE GOING TO WAKE THE WHOLE DAMN COMPLEX!"

Still nothing. Sighing she tried the door. It swung open with ease. "Well at least there's that." She muttered as she entered the room.

It was a mess; there were clothes strewn all over the floor, dishes and soda cans on every surface, and shoes abandoned in a trail towards the bed. Jenn wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"And I thought the living room was a mess." She complained as she made her way through the mess to Rhea's bed.

"Come on Rae Rae, wakey wakey." She began softly nudging her cousin, who was sprawled out under piles of blankets and dirty clothes. "Rhea come on!"

Jenn pulled the blanket away to reveal a lump of belongings but no Rhea.

Jenn looked about Rhea's room. "You're a slob." She said out loud but her cousin wasn't there.

"Where are you?!" She stormed off to the living room hoping she was up and just stupidly ignoring her own alarm clock.

"Rae turn off your stupid alarm clock!" she yelled but the apartment was empty. She stomped back to her cousin's room and turned off the alarm herself. "I'm going to seriously hurt you when you get home unless you have coffee and donuts."

Jenn went to the kitchen and began rifling through the cabinets. It had to be here somewhere, no self respecting human wouldn't have it. It's the greatest substance on the face of the earth, but it was nowhere to be found. Hell, everyone Jenn knew kept it on the counter, prominently displayed for the most sleep deprived brain to locate. Where the hell was it?

"Where in the hell do you keep the fucking coffee, Rhea?" Jenn yelled at her absent cousin.

There was no coffee. There was no coffee pot.

"HOW DO YOU NOT HAVE ANY FUCKING COFFEE?" Jenn yelled.

XxX

"Oh for fucks sake." Jenn sighed. She walked back into the living room and flopped on the couch dejectedly. No Rhea. No coffee. Fuck my life. She thought. There was a piece of paper that didn't seem right on the drafting board.

_Jenny,_

_Got a job interview in NYC! Can't believe they finally called me about it but I only had tonight to get there as it's tomorrow. I'll call you as soon as I know if I got the job or not. Don't clean anything._

_Rhea_

Jenn glared at the note. "Well that's just fucking great." She snarled. "Must be nice!" she shouted at the room.

Jenn threw on her kakis and a blue oxford shirt and pulled her hair into a low ponytail before leaving the apartment. She thought she remembered John saying he lived a couple doors down. She tried to remember which number he'd told her.

She walked down to 302 and knocked. "John! Are you up?" she yelled in case he hadn't heard her knocking this early.

The door swung open to reveal a woman with short dark curly hair and a confused frown. "How did you know John was here?" she asked her in a troubled voice. As far as she knew only Sam knew about things having progressed with John to where they were.

"This isn't his apartment?"

"Noooo…" the dark haired woman told her.

John's head popped around her shoulder. "Sup kid?" He asked Jenn as one arm slid around Liz's waist.

Liz swatted absently at him to stop but he ignored her entirely and tucked her closer.

"Do you guys have any coffee? My flaky cousin got a job interview half way across the country and just left." She huffed.

"No but Sam might. She's in 306." John told her.

Jenn rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

She walked 2 doors down and saw John tug the brunette back into whoever's apartment it was, probably hers. She didn't hear the woman tell John that she had coffee or see him put a finger to her lips then replace that finger with his mouth within seconds as she had her back turned and was too focused on finding a source of caffeine.

Jenn knocked on 306. She could hear heavy metal playing through the door. Who listens to Metallica at this time of the morning? She wondered.

"Can I help you?" A tall slender blond asked Jenn. She had a friendly smile but looked tired.

"John said you might have coffee. My cousin forgot to mention she had a job interview and left me with no notice this morning and no coffee." Jen tried to say politely though it came out an irked snarl as she was pretty mad at Rhea right now for making her randomly approach strangers for her drug of choice like some kind of junkie on Woodward.

"I just drank the last of it actually but if you want, I'll take you out to get some. There's a coffee place right on the corner and we can hit the grocery store after to get you a pot too although I really do usually have a pot going. I've been up all night running math models on a project."

"Math models?" Jen asked surprised. She hadn't realized some of the residents might be engineers.

"Yah. Dr. Mac has us doing theoretical engineering on programmable worm holes. Last semester he had us calculate how to paradrop a tank out of a C130. I thought he was crazy until he showed us a video he got from one of his military buddies."

"If he has video of a working wormhole I want to see it."

"Me too. Let me grab my keys and put on some shoes."


	3. Dealing

Chapter 3 - Dealing

Jenn looked around the "artisanal" coffee shop and internally groaned. Words like "artisanal" ticked her off to no end. The guy behind the counter irritated her at first glance too; he was a tall muscular Samoan, and the way he held himself told her his ego was bigger than his…

"Jenny?" Snapped her out of her reverie. "What would you like?" Sam asked her.

"Coffee." Jenn replied dryly.

"Well you're definitely in the right place, squirt." The man countered, leaning on his elbows. "But you're going to have to be a little more specific."

"Oh for fucks sake." Jenn sighed, noticing her new friend trying not to snicker. "A black coffee, without the twenty questions. Please and thank you."

The man stared at her for a moment, a question in his eyes. "You remind me of someone. You happen to be related to a woman named Rhea?"

"What is this, some sort of interrogation?" Jenn asked, irritated.

"Hey, shark bait, chill. Just trying out some small talk while I get you your fix."

"Don't call me that."

"I'll take that as a yes." He nodded absently, then turned to look at Sam. "Mocaccino?"

"Yes, thank you Ronon." Sam replied, looking amused.

He nodded as he rung them up. "So how is my little Rae of sunshine."

"Not yours, and not here." Jenn said, getting more irritated as time passed. Do people in the Springs not understand the need for coffee before conversation? What kind of place was this?

"What d'you mean not here?" The man in line behind her asked.

"Oh hey Cam." Sam said, having turned when he spoke.

"Hey Sam."

"What the hell! does everyone in this damn town know each other?" Jenn exclaimed, glaring at the muscular man with shocking blue eyes who stood in line behind her.

"Only the regulars." Cam replied. "And what d'you mean not here? Obviously she's not here or we'd be talking to her."

"I mean she up and fucking ditched me in the middle of the goddamn night. Bitch didn't even say goodbye. She left a note saying she got a job interview in New York."

"She what?!" The two men exclaimed simultaneously.

"Wow Rae, leading on two men at once huh?" Jenn muttered to herself, before turning to glare at Ronon again. "Look buddy, can I just pay and get my coffee already? I don't know how you do things in the Springs, but this kind of conversation is _not _meant to be had pre-caffeine."

"Oh. Yeah, sorry kid. Uh, we ringing this up together?"

Jenn pinched her the bridge of her nose in frustration, calmly telling herself not to yell at the guy for calling her kid. It would only hold him up and take longer for her to get her coffee.

"Yes. Together." She said, slipping her hand into her purse to reach for her wallet.

"Hey Jenny, don't worry I got this." Sam said, slipping the man a twenty before Jenn had a chance to object.

Jenn looked at her in surprise. "You really didn't have to do that." She said, wondering what was with this woman. Not only did she walk her down here at way too early in the morning, and chat her up about astrophysics the entire way, now she was buying her coffee?

"Well you're clearly having a bad day." Sam said with a sympathetic laugh. "And you're gonna need to save your money for that coffee maker."

"Thanks." Jenn mumbled awkwardly. Whatever the Springs was lacking, Jenn found herself surprised to have met not one, but _two _incredibly kind people in the two days she'd been here. Everyone in Denver just treated her like she was a weird kid. She never fit in, and here she was having made two friends in two days. Definitely the right move.

They moved out of line while Ronon made their drinks, and Jenn's cell began to ring. She pulled it out of her pocket and stared at the number, debating whether she should bother answering. She sighed, flipping the phone open and slipping it to her ear.

"You better have a damn good explanation for me, Rhea." She said, not bothering with the formalities.

"I GOT THE JOB!" Rhea's voice screamed in her ear so loud she had to pull the phone away. Everyone within several feet heard the exclamation, and Cam and Ronon both turned to look at Jenn with expressions of shock and remorse. Oh yeah, Rhea has been leading these poor boys along _big time_.

XxX

Sam stood with Cam and Ronon as she watched Jenn angrily speak with the cousin who abandoned her hours after she moved in. She felt for the kid, this was not the way to start a new life. She made a mental note to tell Jack about the situation, maybe there was something he could do to help her out.

"So she got the job." Ronon muttered, setting Sam and Jenn's drinks down on the counter.

"I can't believe she left without saying anything." Cam added, leaning on the counter towards Ronon. The pair looked very much like two lovesick puppies who had just been told their owner wasn't coming back for them. They exuded so much gloom Sam couldn't help but picture them as Japanese animations with a dark cloud looming overhead. She suppressed a giggle at their pain as she snatched up their coffee drinks and made her way closer to the pacing teenager.

Jenn snapped her phone shut angrily as Sam approached her, and gratefully took the coffee Sam offered her.

"I can't believe her! She said I can stay in the apartment as long as I can come up with her half of the rent, but she's out. I literally moved in yesterday!"

Jenn had told Sam all about this morning on their walk here, how she had been planning on moving for months. Rhea had promised Jenn's parents she'd look after her, and never once said she was considering moving to New York.

"What are you going to do?" Sam asked after a moment. "I mean, can you afford to pay her half of the rent?"

Jenn looked thoughtful for a moment before she sighed. "No. My parents are paying my half until I get a job, they've given me six months to get one… crap. I'm gonna have to drop out of college before I even begin, aren't I?"

"Hey, it's okay, we'll figure something out." Sam said as comforting you as she could. "In the meantime, let's go get you that coffee maker."

XxX

Sam had taken Jenn to the store for a coffee maker, then talked her into stopping by campus to look at the student employment opportunities-particularly in the physics department. There were several student grading positions that grad students could take on for the undergrad classes, and Jenn was very interested in them. They took down dozens of numbers, and Sam even introduced Jenn to Professor Mac who she'd be taking classes from in the fall. Jenn was thanking her lucky stars John had sent her to Sam's apartment this morning.

By the time they got back to the apartment complex it was almost 3pm, and Sam had spent the entire day with her. They walked up the stairs and into Jenn's apartment which was suddenly very empty. The living room furniture, along with all of Rhea's art supplies, had been removed. The door to Rhea's room was wide open and the room was empty. She was relieved Sam had carried the coffee maker because she would have dropped it in surprise.

"Woah, what happened here?" Sam asked in surprise as she slid the boxed coffee maker onto the counter.

"I guess she paid a moving service to pick up her stuff." Jenn said, figuring it was the only logical explanation.

"That, or you were robbed." Sam replied, sounding concerned. "Maybe check your room just in case."

Jenn walked over to her room and swung open the door. "Nope. Just how I left it." She said turning around to look at Sam as she explored the kitchen.

"Looks like she left all the food."

"Thank god for small miracles." Jenn said sardonically, rolling her eyes.

"And hey, you have coffee and a coffee maker now." Sam continued, trying to sound upbeat.

"Yeah.. I suppose I do."

"Look," Sam said, looking concerned, "I have a few things I need to take care of… would it be okay if I came back in a few hours to check up on you?"

"Yeah, sure, no problem." Jenn replied, still staring in shock at the empty apartment.

"All right. Are you going to be okay?"

Jenn blinked, pulling herself out of her gloomy mood long enough to remind herself of the phone numbers they'd jotted down today.

"Yeah. I'll be fine. I think I'll call a few of those numbers actually. And hey, at least she took the damn wall of record sleeves with her."

"Yes, well," Sam said, smiling at her softly, "it's the little things."


	4. Improbable Solutions

Chapter 4 - Improbable Solutions

Once Jenn had closed the door Sam's face twisted into a snarl. She knew Rhea was flaky but this took the cake. Speaking of cake… Sam flipped open her phone. "Daniel, what's Jack's favorite dessert ever?" She laughed at his answer. "I'm not trying to get him into bed, it's a bribe." She laughed at his assertion that it would likely still get her laid if she wanted. Jack had been playing hard to get until she wasn't on the rebound. It was… frustrating. "All right, thanks for the intel, Daniel." She told him and looked through her pantry. She had everything for a dark chocolate mocha cake with fudge icing so she got to work.

A couple hours later she stood outside the shed door. She could hear him working and presumed that was the reason they had not run into him at Jaffa Java this morning. He must have gotten his coffee with the chickens.

Sam walked in and waited for him to finish with his drill press. "Got a minute?" She asked him with a soft smile. There was something very attractive about how he focused on his task, small shavings of wood dusting his forearms where his blue plaid sleeves were rolled up.

"For you? Any time." He flashed Sam a grin that made her heart flutter a little.

"Remember the kid Rhea had move in with her?"

"Jenn? Only person in the building smarter than you and that includes Eli? Yah, she leaves an impression." Jack's eyes twinkled. The kid had a bit of a temper, much like Sam.

Sam frowned. "Well apparently after all kinds of promises to take her in and watch out for her, Rhea up and got a job interview in New York without telling anyone and took off. We came back and movers have grabbed all her stuff. The kid has her bed and some food."

Jack's expression became thunderous. "She never came in to let me know she might be breaking her lease either."

"Is there anything we can do about it? She just started school and now she's high and dry. I can pitch in to help her with food until she gets a job but I don't think dad is going to buy that my rent went up fifty percent." She admitted. And, she thought, much as I might like to, I don't have room for a roommate either.

Jack looked at Sam for a long moment and considered the obvious bribe still in her hands. His mouth quirked into a small grin. "I'll trade you that luscious looking cake for a solution to your problem."

Sam smiled shyly at him. "I made it myself." She said and held it out.

His fingers lingered on hers as he took the cake from her hands and set it on the bench she was standing in front of. He put a hand on either side of her hips and leaned in to brush her lips lightly with his own. "Deal." he told her softly and kept his hands planted because he knew if he didn't he was going to give in to the temptation to seal this deal with far more than a kiss.

Jack backed away and grinned at her dazed expression. "I need to go make some phone calls. I'll call you when I get some things set up."

Jack grabbed his cake and left the shed whistling.

Twenty minutes later after a phone call to George about the situation that he spent most of it complaining about what a stupid irrisponsible flaky thing Rhea had done, he was on the phone with Jenn's parents.

"So that's the gist of it, Mrs. Hailey." Jack listened for a long time and was kind of surprised that Jenn's mom wasn't more angry than she was. It was almost like she thought the whole thing was funny.

"Yah, she's paid up through the month and then after that George says he'll subsidise the other half until she can find a reliable roommate." Jack rolled his eyes. It was one thing to be irresponsible and flaky when it was just yourself but to screw over a kid that couldn't even legally fix the mess you dropped her into was just too far over the top for him. Jack shoved a bite of cake into his mouth and rolled his eyes in ecstasy. It was a cake worthy of his grandma's skills.

"Sure, and don't worry, two tenants on her floor are cops, I have a doctor here and a doctor in her first year of training and a bunch of people who are already parents who will be happy to watch out for her not to mention Sam." He grinned.

"First year astrophysics grad student. If anyone will be able to help out it's her." Jack explained. He remembered to mention Sam isn't a guy as he had a tendency to leave gender specifying pronouns off most of the time but Jenn was seventeen so knowing Sam was around to watch out for the kid might sway her parents.

"Great. I'll write up the paperwork and have someone get it out to you. If an old guy with no hair shows up, that's George." Jack said grinning and took another bite of cake. "Yes Ma'am." He told the woman on the phone when she asked if this was indefinite until she found a roommate.

"Any time." He told her in reply to could she call again if she had more questions. Jenn's mom thanked him then hung up.

Jack picked up his cell phone and hit #2. "Hey, grab Jenn and come down to my office if you both have time. I talked to her mom and got something set up." Jack hung up and leaned back in his chair to enjoy the rest of his cake, rolling his eyes and groaning blissfully with each bite.

"Jenn? You in there?" Sam yelled through Jenn's door.

The door opened to a red eyed teen who looked equally miserable and furious. "Where else would I be?" Jenn said exasperated.

"Jack wants to see you."

"So he called you instead of me?"

Sam shrugged "He wanted me to come with you actually." Sam watched Jenn's face fall when she realized Jack must have found out she couldn't afford the apartment and wanted someone else to handle the crying and begging. "Hey, relax, Jack is all bluster and no bite. Everything will be fine." She told the girl who didn't look like she believed her.

"Doesn't matter. Not like I have any choice in the matter anyway." Jenn sighed. "Let's just get this over with so I can start packing."

She supposed she could reassure Jenn that she wasn't getting kicked out but then she'd want to know how and Sam didn't have that detail nor did she want to explain that she'd taken advantage of Jack's feelings for her to get a favor out of him. They rode the elevator down silently.

Sam gently tugged the girl's sleeve to get her to follow her out of the elevator. Jenn followed mutely down the hall behind Sam.

The office door was open so they walked right in. Jack was behind his desk,the plate on his desk so clean Sam was reasonably certain that he'd licked it.

"Close the door guys and have a seat." Jack told them as he fished around in his desk. He appeared to give up on what he was looking for though after they sat.

"So I hear your roommate left you high and dry." Jack told Jenn, his eyes kind.

Jenn wanted to curse and scream and cuss her cousin out for doing this to her and something told her that in front of these two she absolutely could. That they would not only understand but join in on lamenting the injustice of her situation. She was afraid to speak though because if she opened her mouth even a little she was going to burst into tears for the second time in two days. She refused to be that girl. So Jenn just nodded her head slowly and her eyes flashed with anger.

Jack cut his eyes to Sam who was frowning thoughtfully like she'd like to dissect Rhea for this bit of nonsense. "I called the building manager. You're paid through the end of the month. He also informed me that there's a student subsidy for undergrads that he can apply for in special cases. It will cover the other half of the rent until you can find a reliable roommate." He told her, his brown eyes warm and gentle like a friendly mutt that just wants to be treated kindly.

Sam smiled slightly and crinkled the eye furthest from Jenn into a half wink. She knew darn well there was no such thing. George was either commuting half the rent or Jack was covering it himself. Either way she appreciated it. The kid was smart. Really smart, and it wasn't fair what Rhea had done to her at all. "Jack, do you think the guys would help move some things? My apartment is a little crowded now and Rhea took all the furniture."

"Oh for cryin out loud. Seriously? Yah, I'll get Danny and T on that at least, Shep owes me a favor still too."

"Thanks." she beamed at him.

Jenn looked form Sam to Jack. Perhaps there was something to being friendly with people. Sam seemed to have maneuvered Jack somehow.

"Don't rush into the roommate thing, I'm pretty sure it covers several months." Jack told Jenn grinning. "I talked to your mom. She's fine with it as long as you show up for classes and your floormates keep an eye on you."

"Wait what?" Jenn asked him confused.

"Shep and Ford are cops and Sam is in the same program that I assume you are going into? She can schlep you to classes when the weather is bad if you ask her nice. Right Carter?" He asked Sam with an engaging grin.

"Sure." Sam told them. "Let me know when Daniel can help move stuff. If I'm not home have him call me before he takes anything."

"Will do. I'm sure you have stuff to do guys. Go on and take off." Jack made a shooing motion.

Jenn got up to leave, she was fairly certain there was no such thing as a rent subsidy for undergrads but she had no way to prove that.

"You go on ahead Jenn, I'll be right behind you." Sam gave Jack a long look and Jenn left rolling her eyes. Real subtle guys. She thought.


End file.
